A one-track mind

I've been slacking off this week as far as posting goes.

Audience: my sincere apologies.

It's not that I don't have much to write about....ok, well, maybe I don't have a ton to write about, but there are thoughts swimming around somewhere in my head that need to get out and onto this here little page. However, it's almost as if I feel guilty for writing or thinking seriously about anything other than the hurricane and it's victims (aside from God, of course. There's always room to write and think seriously about God.). But much like a car wreck on the side of the road draws rubber-neckers, so the tv and news coverage of this disaster draws me in each night. I can't not watch. I feel myself starting to complain about something, and then an image of a family on a roof or a deserted highway fills my mind.

It's frustrating to hear people criticize this, or point the finger at that. And thousands of people are writing about it, and taking pictures, so what more could I add? Not much, I guess. I'm not there right now, nor do I know anyone firsthand who is experiencing that madness. And today alone I've received about 5-10 emails or phone calls about how to help from where I am.

My roommate and I were talking about it the other night. Actually, we were waiting for Lost to start, but it was pre-empted by an ABC hurricane special. And after it was over, I was glad that I had seen it. Those images just don't seem real to me. My roommate and I started talking about a comment a reporter made. It went something like this:

Desk Anchor to Field Reporter: Have you ever seen anything like this? (Obviously waiting for the "Never in my life!" response...)

Field Reporter: Uh...yeah. But not in America!

Wow. Isn't that just a bit true, though? Images like we're seeing used to belong to the third world. Only rarely were we confronted with such things. Yes, I remember hurricane Andrew and how it ripped parts of Florida to shreds. And yes, I remember San Francisco after the earthquake, seeing the pancake of a freeway just hanging in midair. But to even try to imagine New Orleans as a giant bowl 80% full of disease-infested waters...well, my mind just isn't used to that. And to see the thousands of people panicking and rioting, dehydrated and hungry. It's just totally foreign to me.

A co-worker of mine loaded up his car and trailer today, along with 3 other male family members, to make the trek to southern Mississippi. He is hoping to pick up his elderly family members and bring them back to safety. He is planning to stop along the way and pick up some weapons. And that, my friends, is absolutely insane to me. But he's probably safer that way, which is even more insane.

More firsthand accounts can be found here.